Fruits Basket

Fruits Basket is a manga created and illustrated by Natsuki Taka and was published in Hana to Yume by Hakusensha starting July 1998 and ended November 2006. An anime adaptation was made by Studio Deen, written by Higuchi Tachibana and directed by Higuchi Tachibana. It aired starting July 5, 2001 and ended December 27, 2001 on TV Tokyo.

Fruits Basket Plot:

After her mom passed away, it was decided that Tohru will live with her grandfather, but after 4 months, she was asked to live with her friends so he can renovate his house. Not wanting to trouble, she secretly lived in a tent instead. What she didn't know was that the property where she put up her tent in belongs to the family of Sohma Yuki, her popular classmate. After finding out her circumstances, Yuki and his cousin Shigure allowed her to stay with them. In exchange of letting her stay for free, she was given the task to do all the house chores in the house (mainly because Shigure and Yuki don't know how to look after themselves). When she was about to move into her room, an orange-haired teenager jumped in through the ceilling and challenges Yuki calling him a rat. Trying to prevent a fight, Tohru grabbed the newcomer who suddenly turned into a cat. The situation turned from bad to worse when Tohru panicked and fell into the arms of Shigure and Yuki, who turned into a dog and a rat respectively. They explained that the Sohma family is cursed and 10 other people in their family are possessed by an animal in the Chinese zodiac sign and will turn into the animals they are possessed with when embraced by the opposite sex.

Fruits Basket Characters:

Honda Tohru - She is a lively and happy high school girl who doesn't look like she is suffering in anyway. After her mother died, she lived with her grandfather, but had to move out after a few months because he is planning to have his house renovated. Tohru lived in a tent for a while before Yuki and Shigure found her in her tent. The Sohma cousins decided to let her live with her because they need someone to clean at first, but things turned awry when she found out the Sohma family secret. Aside from the fact that 13 family members in the Sohma family turn into the animal they are possessed with, she discovered that their secret is so much darker than she had imagined. Her presence in the Sohma family was so great that it changed the way they lived forever.Sohma Kyo - Kyo is possessed by the cat. It is believed that the reason why the cat is not in the Chinese zodiac was because the rat deceived the cat into believing that the feast hosted by God was on the day after the day of the feast. He has an orange hair, short-tempered and have trouble interacting with other people, but that doesn't stop others from liking him. He is extremely competitive specially if it's against Yuki. He envies Yuki's position in the family as much as Yuki envies how easily Kyo get along with 'normal' people. Kyo is desperate to beat Yuki before his high school graduation because if he does, he will be allowed to become part of the 12 zodiac animals. And if he doesn't, he will be locked away in the Sohma estate. Sohma Yuki - Yuki is possessed by the rat in the Chinese zodiac. The rat in the story of how the Chinese zodiac came to be decieved the cat into thinking that the feast is on the day after. He is called the prince in their highschool and the most popular guy. Although people see him as a kind person, they can also feel the wall that Yuki had put up against others. Yuki describes himself as someone who gives out candy to others just to be liked, but still being unable to put down the wall he had created.
Yuki felt like he is a prisoner under the watch of Akito, the head of the Sohma family, and his relatives. Because of this, he wants to live a normal life outside of the Sohma household's reach, but ended up living in his cousin's house instead. He envies Kyo's freedom from all the family pressures and charisma and gets annoyed every time Kyo mentions that he wants to be in the same position as Yuki in their family.